How to improve the packaging of vacuum cleaner accessories to enhance consumer comprehension: an eye tracking study

Félix Koegler^1,3, Sylvain Sagot², Adélaïde Canal³

¹ ESTA Belfort, School of Business and Engineering

Belfort 90000, France

² ESTA Belfort, School of Business and Engineering, ERCOS Research Group, ELLIADD Laboratory (E.A. 4661), UBFC,

Belfort 90000, France

³ Groupe SEB, SEB International Service,

70310

Abstract: Packaging is the only link between a brand and a consumer at the point of sale. The message delivered to the consumer through the packaging is thus key to ensuring a good customer experience. Previous studies analyzed how packaging design could attract more and help the brand to stand out from its competitors. However, the impact of packaging design on consumer comprehension has not been clearly defined. This study proposes an eye-tracking experimentation to evaluate what packaging design layout optimizes the comprehensibility of the information presented on the packaging. The experimentation has been conducted with 20 participants using a Tobii Pro Nano sensor. A questionnaire was submitted after the experimentation to collect their feeling about the layouts presented. Findings suggest that vertical layouts improve the comprehensibility of the accessory compatibility and that multiple elements are observed by the participants when trying to understand the additional function of the accessory. Overall, participants’ preference goes for vertical packaging design with verbal elements on the left and non-verbal elements on the right as it feels more natural for a Western reading system user. This study provides important implications to enhance customer in-store experience by informing companies on how to optimize their accessory packaging.

Keywords: Eye-tracking, accessory packaging, comprehensibility, customer experience.

Mots-clés : Eye-tracking, emballage d’accessoires, compréhensibilité, expérience client